Work package 1: Specification of working model

Since urban shrinkage up to the present is not a well-established and widely-accepted concept (neither in urban theory nor in urban planning throughout Europe), the working model to be specified will focus on a common theoretical comprehension and appropriate methodological research design shared by all project partners. The main characteristics of shrinkage need to be (preliminarily) identified and comparably operationalised for the case study analyses. In this first phase of the project, research will also focus on an in-depth literature review for the whole European context to substantiate that there already exist both knowledge for a specification of the term as well as indicators of shrinkage that can be used for the model or research design. Based on the expertise of the consortium, the research fields for the first phase of case study analyses (Work package 2) indicated within the proposal will be specified and modified where appropriate. Work package 1 will be finished by a common analytic framework as well as an elaborated research design for the case studies that will be worked out in the form of a first research paper coordinated by the Work package 1 leader. The main aim of Work package 1 is to guarantee a shared research strategy of the consortium in order to generate comparable data and information in the subsequent project steps.